A motor vehicle can be equipped with a “head unit” having a user interface. The user interface can include various resource components such as a screen, speakers, a microphone, a touch screen and/or keypad, etc.
Smart phones or other mobile phones (also called handsets) can download various application programs (“applications”) that operate on the phone. A user can utilize a user interface of the phone to control the application and/or utilize the application in some way (such as watching the visual display or listening to the audio output). Extending applications from the mobile phone to the head unit has become a popular feature offered by various service providers and vehicle manufacturers. As a result, the user can take advantage of better user interface components offered by the head unit (e.g. a larger screen and higher quality audio output). It is desirable to provide a mechanism to control, manage, and enable the extension of mobile phone applications to a vehicle head unit.